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In this life we are all on a journey and knowing how to recognize the messages the universe sends us can be difficult, maybe sometimes we even think there are none. However, trough the centuries people have found ways to interpret the divine, summon it and find it in themselves. A spirit animal is the true essence of a very specific energy in the universe, it is here to guide us, protect us and remind us of who we are.
Every person chooses consciously or subconsciously an animal with its traits as a protector and in times of need summons it, much like in Harry Potter. What if I tell you, it’s real and we all have a “Patronus” to save us? Even more, you can have more than one spirit animal in your life, you can even be contacted by some that you haven’t related to before.
When we truly understand their nature, sacred symbolism, and the power they hold, we evolve in a higher state of being, we live in harmony with our true self and fulfill our greatest potential.
Since ancient times there have been many referrals to animals as a sort of gods in different civilizations or as an embodiment of them. Today we are here to remind humanity its connection to nature, its divinity, to recognize and cherish it.
This article focuses on the Spirit Animal Dove, it’s symbolism, personality traits, ways to reconnect and more.
Some of us already instinctively feel connected to an animal, but if this isn’t the case for you, pay attention to which animals are drawn to you or are there in hard times. When you are in desperate need of a sign, who is the messenger? If you stumble upon the same animal more often than other, it is probably not a coincidence, and you should pay attention.
The dove is a gentle and pure animal, it is the bearer of good news and hope. It shows us that this is an end of a cycle, we are close to our form of paradise and need to be patient. Flying high to deliver the messages, it embodies the element Air: knowing all, seeing the bigger picture, and helping you in a loving way to create a more beautiful and harmonious world.
If you feel like you embody these traits or want to channel them in your life, keep reading to find a way to better understand how to use and find them.
Meaning and Symbolism of Dove As Spirit Animal
Whenever we feel hopeless and need a sign to remain on the right path a dove is sent. From the bible and the story of Noah’s ark, trough art and poetry it has been an eternal symbol of peace, hope, divinity, and purity. Its main purpose is to remind you to let your purity, love, and faith shine brighter than the obstacles in front of you. The essence of this spirit animal is clearing the fog of doubt in any area in your life, bringing you a feeling of security, that you are being looked over and protected on your life’s mission.
Embrace the beauty and divinity, walk with confidence, because you are in tune with the universe. There is no place for suspicion, you will meet your goals! However, remember that it is a symbol of grace and love as well, so keep in mind that cruelty is out of the picture, you will have to be the better person.
Not only that, but you will have to inspire others to be their higher selves too! To create a world full of beauty and harmony is a difficult task, but as a dove you will have to keep your optimism and help spread the universe’s messages. When your spiritual animal helps you, you embody its traits and help others in need as well. In this specific case, be the bearer of hope, a ray of light in people’s lives.
Characteristics and Personality
Doves in a personal matter are a loving, affectionate, and trustworthy animal. Not only we have relied on them to deliver messages on long distances, but they are also trustworthy familywise. A dove is a monogamous animal, that shows extraordinary care for its partner and chicks. It reminds us of a romantic, gracious, and stable love and it moves in that matter in the world.
This spirit animal is an embodiment of purity in every form, it doesn’t let you stray away from your higher path, reminding you of your true essence and helping you remain calm and collected in situations of distress. It is above pettiness and worldly quarrels, looking at them not with condescendence, but with love and understanding, like a motherly figure.
These animals represent:
- Grace
- Love
- Purity
- Hope
- Direction in life
- Divinity
- Motherly care
- Mental strength and reliance
Dove Spirit Animal Positive Powers
Mental strength and reliance: These animals have an excellent sense of direction and no matter how far astray they have flown; they will always find their way back home. It is a gentle reminder that wherever you are in life, you can always find your way back to your higher self and divine home.
If you connect to this spirit animal, that means that you are always able to find the right path and you can help others find theirs as well. You have the mental strength to endure any obstacle life has given you, stay optimistic and guide others.
The dove brings out the motherly figure in us, it helps us solve issues in a way that we have love for the opposing site, we understand them and are gently asserting our ways or helping them find their own. It’s diplomatic, but not distant and uninvolved, it deeply cares of all parties and wants the best for all. A true humanitarian and peace maker.
Love: Doves, as caring and loving partners, and parents, remind us to be devoted to our family and never stop looking for a soulmate. They have found theirs and even though they may deliver messages miles away, they will come back to their family. In this spirit, remember that you may have a divine purpose, but at the end of the day you should focus on your family and close ones, and they should be able to rely on you at any time.
The Dove spirit reminds you that you may have all the love for the world, but your family is the backbone of it, and you need to take care of them as much as anyone else, maybe even more!
However, if you are still on the path of searching for your soul mate, the Dove gives you hope that there is divine love, and you will find yours. When you find the strength to love yourself and others you will meet your true half and will form a unity that is pure, gentle and it will shape the world through its love.
Grace: Sometimes it is hard to stay calm and speak of a place of love, in our darkest times we tend to act out and sometimes make irreversible deeds towards people. This Spirit Animal teaches us to recognize those patterns and what upsets us, work on it, and come back healed into the world. From this point only we can help other people as well, being the light in their darkness.
So why is it so important to do it with grace? Because no change done in history, that has been forced upon people has had a positive outcome. We are not here to be a self-proclaimed tyrant and control the people in our lives, we are here to help each other have a better experience in life. Learning to gracefully nudge people in the right direction or simply be a support for them in hard times is an important quality that we can learn from the dove.
Hope and direction in life: We have all been in a situation in life where we have felt lost, nothing made sense and everything we thought we knew seemed no longer true. In those times let us think of the dove from the bible, flying away from the ark, not knowing if it will find where to land, but having enough faith to try. The dove encourages us to be courageous and go after what we seek, having hope that it will turn out perfectly because we have pure intentions and are being authentic.
So don’t be scared to chase after your wildest dreams, you will be guided and protected along the way, all you need to do is take a leap of faith and you will be surprised how brightly the right path shines.
Dove Spirit Animal Negative Powers
Fragile: As peace makers, graceful and loving animals, they sometimes forget to firmly stand their ground. If this is your spirit animal, you tend to be thoughtful of the people around you to a point where you mind forget to set firm boundaries. You must learn that your home and family are your fortress and sometimes you might need to protect them. Being too altruistic and empathetic might make you vulnerable, so from time to time remember to put yourself and your loved ones first.
Stubborn in their truth: Being able to find your way in life is an important task with many obstacles on the way, however we need to remember that there is no universal truth that works for everybody, so as a dove with its motherly love, you need to remember that you need to teach your chicks how to fly, not where. You are here to help them find their own truth, not to force your own.
Dove as an Animal Totem
Animal totems serve as a reminder of the abilities of the animal they represent. Taking a talisman with you or simply having one in your home will help you find your direction when you are lost and give you hope. It will bring love and grace into your life and remove the insecurities, giving you a new sense of faith.
You can use a dove symbol when you need to be shown the right direction, when you are lost and in need of a sign. It can help you with major life decisions or it can help you be a better mediator. This statue will help you convey and receive messages more clearly and it will personally enhance your emotional world.
How to Call the Animal Spirit of Dove for Help?
There are several ways you can do this, on a mental level you can imagine this animal, ask it questions, talk to it, connect to it, and let it guide you. If you aren’t sure how to trust your intuition you can start by observing this animal, as it is commonly seen, then when you have a clear image of it, how it moves and behaves, try visualizing it at home, better yet imagine embodying it. How does it feel like, what does it teach you?
Simple ways to reconnect with the Animal Spirit of the Dove
Sit in a quiet space and take deep breathes, fill your lungs with as much air as possible and hold it for a couple of seconds as you release it. Pay attention to how it feels when you inhale it, where does it pass through, how much of your lungs does it feel. Do it as mindfully as you can and don’t worry if any other thought emerges, let them pass like clouds. Connecting to the element of the wind will help you embody the energy of the dove. Now while you are in this peaceful state of mind, imagine you are flying trough the sky, you can feel the wind, see the forests, the horizon never ends, you have an important mission, what is it?
When you are lost and in need of direction try these simple steps and see where your imagination takes you, where does the spirit take you and you will find your answers.
You can also ask your guide for a sign you are on the right way and wait for a dove to physically appear in front of you.
How Does an Animal Spirit Make Itself Known?
Spiritual Messengers embody a divine energy from other realms. They can make themselves seen in various ways that are sometimes unnoticed by us.
For example, if you constantly see an image of this animal, if people around you are “randomly” bringing it up, it can be on the news, on TV shows, on clothing, commercials, dreams and so on, if you keep seeing the same sign it is not a coincidence anymore, it has a message for you that you have been postponing.
Most people miss these subtle signs because they don’t pay close attention, however the idea is not to look for a specific sign – it is to pay attention the world around us, and it will make itself known.
If you want a dove to make itself known and you have expectations on how it makes it, you might end up missing it and being disappointed altogether. So, take the role of an observer and you might even hear what message it brings you.
How to Understand You Spirit Animal’s Message
The closer attention you pay to your life the clearer it will be. If you need guidance the area of life in which it makes itself shown will be a clear sign that you should focus on it.
For example, if you are wondering if you should move to another city and you randomly see a picture of the place with a dove in it, it will e a sign to move.
If a dove shows in a situation where you are dealing with loss it might indicate that greater happiness is waiting for you along the way.
If it shows up when you are with a partner it could be a sign that this is your soulmate.
However, it is strongly recommended to take into consideration what you interpret as signs and use your own associations to understand messages. What helps with this is taking time to interpret your dreams and what each symbol means for you. There are some universal ones, however you should ask yourself if you agree with them. This will help you read messages clearly.
Meaning of Dove in Dreams
Dreams are a collection of all the information your brain has gathered but couldn’t actively process, they put the pieces together and look for new solutions while we sleep. They are messages from the subconscious and the divine, they can channel and bring meaning to what you have felt, sensed, and noticed during the days.
Therefore, seeing a dove might mean that you have been in search of the right path, and it is finally making the situation clearer. It symbolizes peace, love, direction, and hope, in accordance with the rest of the dream it can mean that you have found it or are in desperate need of it.
To know which one it is, pay attention to how you feel during the dream and when you wake up. Do you feel calm, happy, and excited? It is probably blessings coming your way. If you feel worried, anxious, scared and dim, you may need to summon your Spirit Animal and ask it for guidance in these times, remember its traits and try to apply them more often in daily situations.
Meaning of Dove in Various Mythologies
The first time the dove appeared in written mythology dates as far back as 3000 BC. in ancient Mesopotamia. They associated it with their fertility goddess, Inanna, or Ishtar in neighboring cultures. Innana ruled not only love and sexuality, but she was also the goddess of war, sometimes she would shapeshift into a dove.
Of course, the Biblical connection with Noah’s Ark and the dove that brings an olive branch as a symbol of hope and peace, alter on in the holy book it is seen as a symbol of the divine as well.
The Aztecs associated their goddess Xochiquetzal with doves, she is said to have come in this world in the form of a dove after a great flood. Like the Greek’s Aphrodite, Xochiquetzal was a love and fertility goddess.
The ancient Greek’s goddess of love was inspired in part from the Mesopotamian goddess of love, Inanna or Ishtar. Aphrodite was often depicted with doves around her.
For the Celts, both doves and ravens have oracle abilities and they have observed their flights and patterns in hopes of higher knowledge.
The Hindu god of love and desire, Kamadeva, is often depicted riding a dove.
Columba is a constellation of a dove carrying a branch, which watches over us and radiates peace and love.
